Multiple “Rust” crew members are set to be called as witnesses in the case against Alec Baldwin, including director Joel Souza, who was shot on the movie set.
Baldwin will make his first court appearance virtually on Feb. 24 after being charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Camera assistant Lane Luper is listed as a witness along with gaffer Serge Svetnoy, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital. Both have previously spoken out about the lack of safety on the set of “Rust.”
Luper resigned from his job on the “Rust” set before the fatal shooting took place.
District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altweis’ witness list against Alec Baldwin, left, includes director Joel Souza, crew members, investigators and experts. (Getty Images)
“What I put in my resignation letter was lax COVID policies, the housing situation driving to and from Albuquerque, and specifically, gun safety, a lack of rehearsals, a lack of preparing the crew for what we were doing that day,” Luper previously said during an appearance on “Good Morning America” in Nov. 2021.
Meanwhile, Svetnoy also confirmed the lack of safety on the set.
During a press conference months after the shooting, Svetnoy’s attorney told reporters that the movie’s producers “were cutting too many corners to save money” and that negligence on set led to Hutchins’ death.
Others on the list include actor Jensen Ackles, script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, owner of prop store Seth Kenney, line producer Gabrielle Pickle and prop master Sarah Zachry.
Also listed are a handful of Santa Fe County investigators including Sheriff Adan Mendoza, along with FBI analysts and experts.
Assistant director David Halls was noticeably absent from the witness list. The first assistant director agreed to plead guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon. The plea agreement is pending approval from a judge.
Halls allegedly handed Baldwin the gun before the fatal shooting of Hutchins and confirmed it was “cold,” meaning no live ammunition.
Halyna Hutchins was the cinematographer on the indie Western film “Rust.” (Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi LLP)
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Baldwin was formally charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter on Jan. 31, according to the court documents. “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was also charged.
In the same documents, prosecutors laid out their probable cause case against Baldwin in specific detail.
“Baldwin’s deviation from known standards, practice and protocol directly caused the fatal death of Hutchins,” the documents state.
“By not receiving the required training on firearms, not checking the firearm with the armorer, letting the armorer leave the firearms in the church without being present, deviating from the practice of only accepting the firearm from the armorer, not dealing with the safety complaints on set and/or making sure safety meetings were held, putting his finger on the trigger of a real firearm when a replica or rubber gun should have been used, pointing the firearms at Hutchins and Souza, and the overall handling of the firearms in a negligent manner, Baldwin acted with willful disregard for the safety of others and in a manner which endangered other people, specifically Hutchins and Souza.”
Alec Baldwin gets out of a car outside his apartment in Manhattan, Feb. 1, 2023. The actor has been officially charged with involuntary manslaughter for the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust in October 2021. (Dario Alequin for Fox News Digital)
Hutchins died Oct. 21, 2021, after a gun Baldwin was holding fired on set. The incident took place in a church on Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department has spent the last year investigating how live rounds made it onto the movie set. Gutierrez-Reed and Halls were the only other crew members believed to have handled the gun.
Prior to Halls allegedly handing Baldwin the gun, Gutierrez-Reed spun the cylinder to show Halls what was in the gun, her lawyer said.
Baldwin has maintained that he did not pull the trigger of the gun – once during a primetime interview shortly following the deadly shooting and again on a podcast episode. The actor originally said he had pulled the hammer of the gun back as far as he could and released it but did not pull the trigger.
Alec Baldwin will make his first court appearance virtually on Feb. 24 after being charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. (Jim Bennett/Getty Images)
